DALLAS - The 2007 Cotton Bowl between Nebraska and Auburn has featured very little smack talking, but that all changed Friday afternoon at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Irving.

The trash talking all began when All-SEC first-team running back Kenny Irons said Nebraska hasn't seen a running attack as good as the one they'll see on Monday. Irons call the Auburn rushing attack "second to none" and said they plan to run it right at the Husker front seven.

Tiger starting quarterback Brandon Cox added some fuel to the fire when he said NU's defense isn't that quick off the ball, but they make up for their lack of quickness with size.

Friday's press conference featured Auburn's offensive and Nebraska's defensive players, and one of the representatives for the Huskers was starting middle linebacker Corey McKeon. When McKeon was made aware of the comments made by Irons and Cox, let's just say he was caught a little off guard by their remarks.

"Does anyone have statistics on them," McKeon asked a group of reporters. "Are they the No. 1 ranked running team in the nation?"